By: Matt Sanders, Bombers Broadcaster

Tommy Parsons, the sophomore from Adrian College, threw six and a third solid innings against the Kalamazoo Growlers Friday night at Homer Stryker Field en route to the Bombers winning 6-1.

In his six and a third innings, Parsons allowed seven hits and recorded seven strikeouts against Kalamazoo.

Austin Bueter came on in relief for Parsons and worked out of a jam with two Growlers on base. Bueter went on to pitch one and two thirds of scoreless baseball for Battle Creek, and Chi-Ping Wu came on for his debut in the ninth to close out the game.

The Bombers offense played small ball with a touch of long ball. Shortstop Ryan Dorrow got the scoring started for Battle Creek with a single in the first inning and came around to score on a Josh Canabal single.

In the top of the fourth inning, Canabal had a leadoff single, then first baseman Christian Helsel reached after getting hit by a pitch. With one out in the inning, second baseman Cooper Marshall launched a three-run home run over the left-center field wall to give the Bombers a 4-1 lead, and Battle Creek never looked back.

With the bases loaded in the fifth inning, Cooper Marshall worked a two-out walk, scoring center fielder Nick Walker, who reached with a one-out walk.

In the eighth inning, Christian Helsel led off with a single, and then stole both second base and third base. He came home to score Battle Creek’s sixth and final run on an RBI groundout by catcher Alejandro Gomez.

The Bombers take a 2-0 lead in the four game home-and-home series with Kalamazoo, and move to .500 on the season. The Bombers and Growlers square off again at Homer Stryker Field in Kalamazoo Saturday evening at 6:05 p.m.